Captain Atom #2Review

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This week on Captain Atom, MD...

By Poet Mase

I may have been one of the strongest supporters of JT Krul's first offering of this new Captain Atom series, but issue #2 has me thinking that its predecessor may have been some type of fortunate mistake. Just about everything that I liked about the first episode falls apart in this book.

It seems that Krul has entirely lost control of the direction of this series, and it's only the second issue. We start with a bland origin story and follow up with an odd, contradictory subplot about a little boy with cancer. The origin story seems out of place, as part of the previous story's appeal was in the mysteries surrounding how Captain Atom arrived in his current predicament and what the implications unique to this series might be. Similarly, the use of the cancer story was not only poorly executed in terms of dramatic tension (Why would a dye used for medical imaging "attack" Captain Atom?), it was about as subtle as a 2x4 across the head in its description of the Captain's new powers. Let's not forget that mere pages before Captain Atom successfully locates, identifies, and eradicates a brain tumor, he shares that he knows almost nothing about biology other than which atoms comprise the human body. With little more to endear readers to the book's protagonist than his desire to be a really nice guy and the vague notion that he's dangerous to himself and others, there's little reason to care about his altruistic mission. The use of Ranita and Scott as representations of liberal and conservative mentalities is also painfully heavy-handed.

Artist Freddie Williams II gives us vestiges of the storytelling that he instilled in issue #1 and nothing more. The overall impression of Captain Atom's entrance into the boy is garbled, and the renderings of brain tissue are uninspired. On the other hand, the imagery of Atom's method of entry does possess an interesting "Breath of God" symbolism that will undoubtedly appear in other forms later. Aside from this, though, there isn't much to cheer about that we haven't seen before. The camera angles and character designs have regressed, leaving Williams' compositions unexciting, as a whole.

This meandering story of self-discovery is riddled with hackneyed internal monologue and blase artwork, making it one of the worst backslides of the new 52 thus far. If the creative team can capitalize on the mutant animal threat introduced in issue #1 and all but ignored here – and can do so quickly – they may be able to save this series from its violent nosedive. My patience and optimism, however, have been suddenly and severely shortened by this issue.